31 in 31 #31 Completing The task

31 in 31 #31 Completing the task in 31 days – what I learned and what next     

I really enjoyed the process. I am already comfortable with writing so that part was relatively easy. Also the topics seem to flow along probably because I am in the middle of several projects and trying to organize them as best as I can. I liked the limitation and also the freedom of no more than 350 words. It made it much easier for me. There were some challenges and I expect more in the one year course starting next week. Technologically, I am still a bit all thumbs about loading pictures, using videos, uploading to youtube and generally making the blogs more lively and interesting. I am still in the “brain-dump” phase of learning to blog. I would hope that the blogs become more fun to read and that I can organize the blogs to support my various businesses. I have thought of a title for the blog Transitions & Transformations / Pets & People. However, the free blogs don’t like capital letters or strange signs like “&”. Skipping that minor problem for a moment, I would like to write about transitions, transformations, pets and people and that will cover all the aspects of my businesses as well as my deeper interests. It is important to me to be conversant with the modern ways of communicating such as blogging, social networking etc. Not only is this the current way to communicate but it will become even more in the future. I think about my mom who will be 96 next month. She lives completely independently and is a bit of political junkie in the best sense of that term. However, she is afraid of computers, does not have email and so must use the methods of her youth to get information such as the library, magazines and newspapers. It works for her but she misses out on a lot of things she would love. So again, thanks for the opportunity and on we go.

31 in 31 #30 A little mediation seminar

31 in 31 #30 A little “mediation” seminar          

The school where I received my mediation training has seminars each month on mediation topics. I went to my first one last night and want to share what I learned. The seminar was titled CPR for Communications – A better framework for conflict resolving conversations. If there is a trick to mediation that I am discovering, it is to discern the interests which underlie a position. CPR in this seminar means Content, Pattern, Relationship. Let’s say there is an argument between husband and wife. Content refers to the story or the “facts” in the situation. Pattern goes deeper and sees if there is a history of similar incidents and looks for what underlying need is not being met. Finally, how is this pattern affecting the relationship? So, if you can follow this, there are 6 different answers that are given that will probably NOT be the same. The husband gives his take on CPR and the wife gives her take on CPR (imagine a chart with 6 boxes). A crucial aspect of the mediator’s role is to be able to help the parties identify the patterns and also help them focus on this affects the relationship. It is very easy to get caught on content. A simple example will help – The wife says she will be home at 6PM and the husband has made a delicious dinner. She does not call and arrives at 6:30. As she walks in the door, he yells at her, she yells back. It does not sound like the meal will be happy. If it was ONLY a content issue, I suppose he might be concerned and ask what happened before blowing up. However, if we look toward a pattern, we may find that he can’t rely on her word and perhaps she needs more leeway in their relationship. By the way, in this encounter, it turned out that she had forgot her cell phone at home and did not realize it until she tried to call on the ride home

31 in 31 Looking Back One Year

31 in 31 #29 Looking Back One Year 

It is hard to believe how much has happened in one year since I retired from my career job. Originally I had the thought to simply do dog massage, one dog at a time, very loving, very meditative – I am actually doing that and I am invited to do it as much as I like in a variety of shelters and doggy day cares. That part is all volunteer. I also teach classes to dog owners about the basics of massage and I work on dogs that have medical needs. All very good.  Six months ago, I added mediation to my goals. I am a reconciling being and it is in my nature to see issues from many sides at the same time. I thought mediation would b e a good vehicle for this. I took the required course and now am going through my paces in both Small Claims and Eviction Court to help people and to hone my skills. I expect to do at least 50 mediations in the next year and eventually specialize in pet related issues. Finally, I started a business with a person I met this year. We called it Forever care for Pets and it is in its infancy. It essentially addresses the question, “what will happen to my pet when I can no longer care for her.” One of the marvelous things of all these adventures is the new people I have met as well as the situations I find myself. Dog massage alone would not have provided for the variety, the challenges and the opportunities. Each of these businesses is now launched and so to speak step one is complete. Step two will be highly intensive, taking a lot of time as I make specific commitments to help each grow. More to come.

31 in 31 #28 The Launch

31 in 31 #28 The Launch         

Today I launched a business and website called www.forevercareforpets.com and I have been reflecting on launching anything. Perhaps the most profound meditation I have seen on this subject comes from a surprising source. It is from a book and website called “Journey of the Universe”. It is a most wonderful narrative about the narrative of the universe itself containing everything. Quite a scope. And what I am calling a launch, they poetically refer to the big bang as a “flaring forth.” Don’t you love that? And wait, it gets better. If the universe itself flared forth in a way that billions of years later allowed for a planet Earth and still billions of years after allowed for humans, then we are, in the deepest sense, the universe in its manifestation as a human. This one thought is so large and comprehensive that it can change a life if we can meet it with the required energy. Let me say it another way, on a deep and true level, I am not the person writing this blog (although there is an aspect of myself that is certainly writing this). But in the sense of who I actually am, my larger self I am the universe itself. – the trees, the mountains, the rocks…How could it be otherwise? So my little launch of the website which is certainly a big deal in my little “self”, on a deeper level, it is the universe itself acting and in some way, a launch is a launch whether it is the great flaring forth or something much smaller.

31 in 31 #27 - Massaging at the MSPCA walk

31 in 31 – #27 Massaging at the MSPCA Walk

It was three years ago that my wife and I brought our two dogs to the MSPCA dog walk with about 300 other dogs. It was a wild and crazy time with contests, vendors, and of course, food. One of the vendors was a wife / husband team focusing on dog massage and hydro-therapy. Our two dogs got a nice massage and the thought occurred to me – “hey, this is a pretty cool thing to do.” I asked them how to become a dog massage therapist and they suggested the Bancroft School which I eventually chose a year later. I kept in touch over the years and emailed them a few months ago that I would be happy to join them in their tent massaging dogs making it a complete circle. Well, today was the day and it was so much fun to be with them as people came by and we massaged sometimes three dogs at a time. I felt fully comfortable having massaged hundreds of dogs at similar types of events over the past eight months. As often happens, someone says their dog is not comfortable with men and I say, let’s give it try and see how it goes. At least half of the time, the dog really loves it and the owner is surprised and happy and so it went today. The energy at these types of events is quite joyous and the love that people have for their dogs really comes through. For me, it is like a bath in fresh clean water – very refreshing.

31 in 31 #26 Being with a superstar

31 in 31 #26 Being with a super star

Today I had the fun and privilege of being with a super star. Many articles have been written about her, she has own face book page, there was a line of people and dogs who wanted to take a photo with her, and she has a tee shirt with her picture. I got to give her a massage surrounded by her adoring fans. Her name is Lilly and she is a pit bull who rescued a human from the railroad tracks last May by pulling the person to safety. In the process the train hit her and crushed parts of her body including her legs. She was rushed to the animal emergency room and a team of wonderful surgeons put her together with a steel plate and other surgical procedures. Miraculously she fully recovered and became a sensation in the Boston area appearing at many events, winning awards for courage and being a fantastic ambassador for pit bulls. If you know pit bulls, you will know that many simply ooze sweetness and kindness. Lilly is great with children, puppies and pretty much everyone else who wanted to be near her. My wife and I had discovered how wonderful pit bulls can be several years old when we were volunteering at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. We took one for a “sleepover” in our cottage and she immediately jumped into the bed took a big sign and said OK, let’s all sleep together. In fact, my wife wrote a great article about her which led to her being adopted by a wonderful family. It is heartening to see that little by little the general public is beginning to be educated about pit bulls. For wonderful stories and photos, google Lilly the pitbull and enjoy.

31 in 31 #24 Dog Massage and Human Massage

31 in 31 – Dog Massage and Human Massage

A few weeks ago, a human massage person (Lyn) invited me to join her in her tent at a weekly on-going farmer’s market. She would do human massage (in a massage chair) and I would massage the dogs on a soft pad on the ground. We originally thought a person would come by with their dog and it would all happen at once. What has happened is that the people who want massages go to her and other people with their dogs come to me. For example, yesterday I got to massage a Mastiff. What a wild and fun event. Many children came running over as the large and gentle Mastiff lay down on the pad and drooled happiness. I explained to the children and the adults how to do massage and why the dog was so happy. Noticing all this Lyn asked if I would like to teach a seminar to dog owners at her wellness center and we are now planning the details. I told her about my idea to do in-home care for recovering pets and she was interested in participating. Turns out she has a lot of medical experience and knowledge. As with so many people I meet these days (myself included), the key word is TRANSITION. Lyn and I will think and plan together over the next few weeks and I won’t be surprised if something very good emerges over the next few months.

31 in 31 #25 Moving at the speed of kindness

31 in 31 #25 Moving at the speed of kindness

Food is a big deal to my wife and I. We love to shop for food, cook and eat. For the past many years, we cook together on the weekend and make enough delicious and nutritious food for the week. The preparation is relaxed and creative and we make wonderful meals of all sorts. We go to a nice supermarket near us as part of the adventure and are experts in efficiency knowing where everything is located. Almost every time we go I become very quiet internally as we navigate the aisles moving quietly and attentively with the other shoppers and their carts. I love the experience. Today as I was shopping the phrase “moving with the speed of kindness” came into my mind. I had my own intentions to buy bananas and yogurt and other things and so it was with every other person in the market. I noticed that part of the joy of the shopping experience for me is taking into account all the other people who are moving through their intentions. Some are tense, some relaxed, some speaking on the phone, some with children and so on. “The speed of kindness” is a way of being congruent and adaptive to everything going on and also not losing the thread of my own intentions (say, the bananas and are they too ripe). This phrase, this notion completely generalizes to everything and everywhere. How attentive and adaptive can I be to what’s going on around me? Can I be so blended that there is a hardly a separation between myself and others – or in massage, between my fingers and the dog’s breathing. What a beautiful mediations to carry through life.

31 in 31 #23 Max Crosses the Rainbow Bridge

31 in 31 #23 – Max Crosses the Rainbow Bridge

Yesterday was our 15 year old dog, Max, last day. He already had one paw on the rainbow bridge and yesterday the quality plummeted and my wife and I decided OK, this is it. Although we have done this many times before, each time is difficult and profound. We approach death a little bit differently but agree on one important thing – it is all about the quality of life of the dog (or cat, or horse, or chicken or..) We try our best to balance our own inconvenience (poop in the house, no sleep, lots of medications and so on) with the quality of life - Are there more good days than bad, is there enough joy left, is he telling us to let him go? What we have seen over the years is that the final process is a series of set-backs and rallies and we try to accompany our pets through the process. Occasionally there is what seems like a miracle, or miracle drug that helps for a while and our lives follow the rhythms of the pet. Our current household consists of a 17 year old dog, a 15 year cat and a 20 year old cat. It is at best like a senior center but often like a nursing home or more recently hospice. All of these animals are rescues and they have been bonded for many years. We keep our eye on how they will react when they fully notice Max is gone. Typically there is a grieving period – actually we all go through that together. So thank you Max for being part of our lives as you venture into the great mystery.

31 in 31 #22 more about in-home recuperation

31 in 31 – More thinking About In-Home recuperation services

This blog looks at in-home recuperation from the point of view of the dog or cat owner. What does the dog owner needs to do after say cruciate (knee) surgery. One excellent protocol suggests a 9-12 commitment which goes something like this: Prepare the house for restricted movement, avoid jumping or stairs. Use a harness or belly support for lifting the dog. Already, this is not so easy to actually accomplish. For the week following surgery notice if there is abnormal swelling, bruising discharge, bleeding and discomfort that needs veterinary assistance. Weeks 1-3 involve massage, passive range of motion, short and controlled leash walks, cold therapy, and moist heat all in a thoughtful sequence. For example, the recommendation for week 1 is to do gentle massage for 5-10 minutes 3 or 4 times a day. Similar with passive range of motion and short controlled walks. If the owner has a job, doing these different activities several times of day is probably not going to happen. This may lead to owner frustration as well as delayed recovery for the dog. Weeks 4-6 move to longer walks, determining when to level off with massage (if at all) and more complicated exercises such as figure eights and stair work. For anyone who has participated in the recovery and healing process of their pet, you will know how challenging all of this can be. My in-home visits would accomplish several goals at once. We would go through the protocol in detail, at least for that day. At the beginning, we would observe together if anything appeared abnormal and needed veterinary care. I would teach the owner basic massage and range of motion techniques. Perhaps most important is that I would be a support, both emotional and practical, for the many week / month challenge of helping their pet recover.

31 in 31 in-home recuperation

In-Home Recuperation and Massage Therapy for your Pet

After your pet has surgery or experienced an injury, there is a recuperation period. Depending on the circumstances, this can last from a week to several months. Almost all in-home recovery protocols include the following

:

a)           limiting and restricting your pet’s activity

b)           applying therapies including cold, moist heat, massage, passive range of motion and stretching

c)           Strengthening exercises including controlled walks, hill work and stair climbing

d)           Balance exercises including weight shifting, figure eights and outside obstacles

I offer assistance with any part of the recovery protocol. In addition to my certification in therapeutic small animal massage (dogs and cats), I bring over 25 years of caring for my own menagerie of pets on my small farm. In addition to performing therapeutic massage for your pet, I show you some basic massage you can do for your pet. All work is done in consultation with your veterinarian and the recovery protocols they specifically recommend.

This service offers you the comfort of having a caring professional help you and your pet through the recovery process. And this is done at your home.

For further information go to www.skillfulhandsdogmassage.com.

31 in 31 #20 A wondrous dream

31 in 31 #20 A Wondrous Dream

Every now and then a dream has the quality to affect an entire day or maybe longer by both its meaning and atmosphere. I had one of these last night. I was driving in a car holding a very nice baby and I was with my friend and mentor from my youth. (My friend had actually died several months ago and I have had many dreams about him throughout the years.) We were going back to a place where we had started our spiritual work – a house where many good things had happened. As we started walking up a small hill to the house (still carrying the baby very lovingly) I saw a somewhat strange house construction made of concrete blocks and plywood. It was like a “house in the raw” or perhaps just the very essence of a house. It was clear that it had been built by a group of us and it was still there. Moving up the hill we saw several more of these constructions and I realized that others had been building houses also. And then it happened – I looked up the hill and it was infinitely long, going up and up towards the sky and there were thousands of these houses and we both realized that whatever the dreams of our youth it had carried on. I began to cry and so did my friend. We cried and hugged each other. And I woke up in such a beautiful state of hope and appreciation that has lasted all day so far.

31 in 31 #19 The dog-walkers

31 in 31 #19 Meet the dogwalkers

A few weeks ago, I was doing massage at a fair for a dog park. There were many vendors including a dog walker booth run by a nice young couple. We chatted for a few moments and I suggested “a cup of coffee” together sometime in the future to talk about ways to work together. This morning we met for the coffee in a pleasant outdoor café. They have been walking dogs for seven years and have built a nice business with 60 dogs a day and a small staff to help them. We found a series of ways to work together including potential “in-home” care for people who can’t take care of their dogs due to some type of disability or sickness. In addition, they were happy to send out my course information to their current clients. I simply love to work by “connections.” Little by little patterns emerge on what we can do for each other. They told me that they are trainers and meet with a training group in Cambridge (big city 50 minutes from my home) and perhaps I would want to add massage to their classes or at least present it to their group. That would be my entry into Cambridge and the gigantic market for all of my dog adventures. Also I was touched by their good will and would be happy to help them grow their business if they wish.